By Saikat Das and P R Sanjai
The Adani Group has repaid a Rs 4,000 crore ($500 million) bridge loan due Thursday, according to people with knowledge of the matter, adding to a slew of other payments as the Indian conglomerate works to restore confidence in its financial health after a scathing short seller report.
The money was released to lenders on Tuesday, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. Some banks had balked at refinancing the debt following a report from Hindenburg Research late-January that sent Adani assets tumbling, Bloomberg News reported in February.
The empire led by billionaire Gautam Adani has since pre-paid about Rs 16K crore ($2 billion) of share-backed loans, made bond repayments on time and won another Rs 15,000 crore ($1.9 billion) investment from star investor Rajiv Jain of GQG Partners. That’s helped pare losses in the group’s market value to around Rs 10L crore ($124 billion) from as much as Rs 12L crore ($153 billion).
Global banks had lent Adani Rs 36,000 crore ($4.5 billion) to finance the purchase of Holcim Ltd cement assets last year, and a portion of this was due March 9. The next tranche of the loan comes due in 2024, one of the people said.
An email to the Adani Group wasn’t immediately answered on a public holiday in Ahmedabad.
(1 USD = 81.91 INR)